'Girls of Atomic City' rises to No. 14 on Best Sellers List

Denise Kiernan continues to take her amazingly successful book, “The Girls of Atomic City,” about Oak Ridge to audiences that we Oak Ridgers could never have reached.

by D. Ray Smith/Special to The Oak Ridger

Denise Kiernan continues to take her amazingly successful book, “The Girls of Atomic City,” about Oak Ridge to audiences that we Oak Ridgers could never have reached. It has just reached No. 14 on the New York Times Best Sellers List, up from No. 33!

As I write this, she was scheduled to appear on MSNBC again on Friday, April 12. She was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on March 28. Finally, Denise is soon to embark on an extended national book tour. Wow, folks … this is phenomenal.

What is even more rewarding to me is to see the smiles on the faces of the “girls” (elderly women now) that she included in her book. I told her by e-mail tonight that she had done something very special for these ladies and had literally “taken years off their expressions.” And that is not stretching it a bit. When these ladies talk to me about Denise, their smiles seem to be a mile wide. She truly has made them feel special — and they are special.

Shame on us for not being able to do this and for not seeing the value in our own “celebrities.” For example, there is Liane Russell, who discovered the purpose for the “Y” chromosome. She is right here in Oak Ridge. There are others. We should be singing their praises much more than we do. I know we have many people who are getting recognition in their fields of endeavor and who are regularly given awards in their technical societies or at their workplace. I just think we could do better generally.

Back to Denise. Her schedule is full right now. She is in New York City doing interviews, meetings and all the other things required of her at this stage of the book’s success.

She has been on National Public Radio and took Colleen Black and Celia Klemski with her. What a great interview that was. You can listen to it here at Denise’s website: http://denisekiernan.com/About_Denise_Kiernan.html.

Denise was interviewed by Ray Suarez on PBS NewsHour on March 26.

She was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and her’s the link — http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-28-2013/exclusive—-denise-kiernan-extended-interview-pt-1.

Here is the link to Part 2 of the interview that was not included in the broadcast: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-28-2013/exclusive—-denise-kiernan-extended-interview-pt—2?xrs=share_copy

The book has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine.

Gregory Cowles, in the New York Times Sunday Book Review’s “Inside the List” started the April 5 article off with a photograph of Denise and a splendid review of her book: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/books/review/inside-the-list.html?_r=0.

Of course, Denise spoke to a full house at the American Museum of Science and Energy on March 19. That was a delightful experience for many. I can’t count the number of people who have commented to me about just how much they enjoyed that evening. And a number of the people in the audience were singled out by Denise and aided her as she conducted the interviews for the book.

The next time you will be able to hear her talk about “The Girls of Atomic City” will be on May 21, at Lunch with League of Women Voters. I suggest you make your plans now to attend that lunch.

She has also committed to be the featured speaker at the March 2014, Lunch 4 Literacy event.

I’m excited just to think about what might be in store for her and for Oak Ridge as the interest in “The Girls of Atomic City” continues to grow. With a national book tour, do you suppose we might see the book rise even higher on The New York Time’s Bestseller List?

You can see more reviews of the book here. http://denisekiernan.com/Denise_Kiernan.html.

Here is her website: http://denisekiernan.com/About_Denise_Kiernan.html.

By going to the website you can also select to follow her on various social media, sign up for her e-mail list and to be kept up to date on the Simon & Schuster author alerts by signing up for them. Media or publicity request regarding “The Girls of Atomic City” should contact Justina Bachelor at Simon & Schuster.

By now many of you have read the book. Not a day goes by that I don’t encounter telling me about how much they have enjoyed or are enjoying reading it. For sure, we are getting press attention that would not have come our way without Denise seeing Ed Westcott’s image of the young girls operating those calutrons in their “cubicles.”

That image, one of Ed’s great artistic yet practical photographs attracted her attention. Studying the image and getting to know some of the women who did that work caused her to decide to spend much of the last few years collecting interviews and doing the necessary difficult research in the National Archives and other locations to produce The Girls of Atomic City.

As a result, finally, there is suitable public recognition for the young girls’ hard work and dedication. What a joy.

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